Discussion

Barilla's 77 cents a box pasta "apology"?

After owner Guido Barilla's Chick-fil-a-esque comments managed to land Barilla Pasta an LGBT boycott (http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-27...), the one (arguably) good thing that did come out of it was really cheap pasta. 77 cents a box at Safeway (as of Oct. 3, San Anselmo Safeway).

Exactly -- this issue has been implicit in Barilla US products since they began widely marketing several years ago, and is a longer-term problem than some hereditary CEO being stupid enough to gratuitously alienate customers. (A friend remarked that such gaffes are only possible in a private, family-run firm -- no professional business manager wants to scare off anyone from buying the product, and would be instantly fired for doing so.)

But the longer-term issue that I and hyperbowler refer to is Barilla boxes all labeled "Italy's #1 brand of pasta," suggesting peership with venerable Italian brands available here, like De Cecco or Delverde. But no: it's a US-made version. Not a particularly bad one in my experience; but yes, inferior to good Italian pastas; and phony, with that slogan.